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How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
|release=December 18, 1966 |runtime=26 minutes |rating=TV-G |available=VHS Betamax CED Laserdisc DVD Blu-ray Apple TV Google Play Amazon Video}} Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 CBS animated special based on the by Theodor Geisel (better known as ), directed by legendary cartoon director Chuck Jones. Notably the first prime-time animated television special based on a Dr. Seuss book, it features narration by (who also voiced the title character) and music written by . Synopsis It is Christmas Eve in Whoville, and everyone is decorating for the big day tomorrow -- everyone except for the Grinch, a sour, depressed hermit who lives in a cave on nearby Mount Crumpit, a steep high mountain just north of the city. His only companion is his unloved but loyal dog, Max. The Grinch absolutely hates everything about Christmas, because of the noise surrounding the entire town on Christmas Day. Annoyed at their rejoicing and unable to understand the Whos' happiness after dealing with it for over 50 years, the Grinch tries to come up with a plan to "stop Christmas from coming". Just then, after seeing Max having gotten covered in snow in a way that makes him look like Santa Claus, the Grinch gets the notion of disguising himself as Santa and stealing all of the Whos' presents, believing that is enough to stop the holiday from coming. First, he cuts out a coat and a hat and sews some fluff onto them. Then, he takes a reindeer horn and ties it to Max's head. Finally, the Grinch brings out a big stack of bags, loads it onto his sled, and starts down on his journey to Whoville in a very comical way with Max pulling the sled. Once he has snuck into Whoville, the Grinch gets to work stealing everything in the first house he enters. While stuffing their tree up the chimney, though, a young girl named Cindy Lou Who wakes up and asks him why he's taking the Christmas tree. The Grinch fibs his way out of it by telling her that one of the lights is broken and he's taking it to his workshop to fix. After tucking Cindy Lou back in bed, the Grinch stuffs up the tree, and goes up the chimney himself, taking the log for their fire behind him. He then proceeds to steal everything in all the other houses afterwards, leaving Max with the job of loading everything onto the sled. Loaded with everything the Whos owned, the Grinch and Max take the presents up to Mount Crumpit, where the Grinch plans to dump it all over the cliff. Feeling joyous at the moment, the Grinch prepares to listen for a sad cry from the Whos. Instead, the Whos are still happy and singing carols. It is at this point that the Grinch realizes the true meaning of Christmas and has a change of heart. After managing to retrieve the sled from falling over the edge of the mountain, he brings everything back to the Whos and is invited to participate in their holiday feast. Cast Songs The special contains three songs, all written by Dr. Seuss and composed by : :All songs were uncredited. * "Welcome Christmas" * "Trim Up the Tree" * "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" - Sung by Soundtrack release A soundtrack album was released by (a subsidiary of ) in 1966. It was available in mono (LE-901) and stereo (LES-901), and featured the complete soundtrack of the special. It won a 1968 Grammy Award for Best Children's Recording. After being out of print for many years, it was reissued on CD and cassette in 1995 on 528 439, and was also available as a limited edition picture disc record. A 45 RPM single was also released in 1995 of singing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". On October 19, 1999, the score to How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and another animated special based on a Dr. Seuss book, , were released on CD by and . This album was reissued on CD and , without the Horton Hears a Who! audio, by on October 9, 2012. Broadcast history The special was originally broadcast on CBS on December 18, 1966. CBS repeated it annually during the Christmas season until 1987. Afterward, the special, along with the rest of MGM's pre-1986 film library, was acquired by . Since Turner's acquisition, the special has been broadcast on TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, The WB, ABC (where several scenes were cut or shortened), , and most recently, NBC (which uses the same shortened version aired on ABC, though they aired the uncut version for the special's 50th anniversary in 2016). In November 1994, as part of TNT's month-long "Seuss-A-Bration" event (in which the network ran all of the Dr. Seuss animated specials and premiered the documentary ), the special's broadcasts on that network were accompanied by a "making-of" documentary hosted by . This documentary was later included as a bonus feature on Warner Home Video's DVD and Blu-ray releases of the special. Availability How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was first released to VHS, Betamax, CED, and Laserdisc by in the early 1980s. They released it on VHS again in 1986 and 1994. MGM/UA Video released it on Laserdisc again in 1994, and then on DVD in 1996. On the CED and Laserdisc releases, it was accompanied by the animated adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! After Time Warner merged with in 1996, released a new VHS release of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in 1999, and followed it up with a new DVD release the following year. In addition to the inclusion of Horton Hears a Who! as a bonus special on both formats, the DVD also contained an audio commentary by and June Foray, a small gallery of the special's original pencil sketches, TNT's making-of documentary, and "Songs in the Key of the Grinch", a new featurette featuring interviews with Albert Hague and Thurl Ravenscroft. Warner Home Video later released a new DVD of the special on November 21, 2006, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the special's original airing (and an early tie-in with the 50th anniversary of the book's original publication). This DVD presented the special in newly-remastered picture quality and contained most of the previous DVD's bonus features as well as a new featurette about the special's origins, but oddly dropped the audio commentary. Two years later, Warner Home Video quietly issued a similar DVD release, which reinstated the audio commentary and dropped the inclusion of Horton Hears a Who! (which had by that point gotten its own DVD, released as a tie-in with ). A Blu-ray of the special, containing all the bonus content from the 2008 DVD, followed up in October one year later. Warner re-released the 2008 DVD on October 18, 2011, this time as part of a two-disc set titled Dr. Seuss' Holidays on the Loose!, with the second disc containing the later two animated specials starring the Grinch - and . The 2009 DVD was later released as part of the Dr. Seuss's Deluxe Holiday Collection DVD box set (which also contained Warner's DVD releases of Horton Hears a Who! and ) on October 2, 2012. The DVD and Blu-ray were then released as part of Warner Home Video's Hats Off to Dr. Seuss DVD and Blu-ray sets (which also contained Warner's releases of Horton Hears a Who!, , The Lorax, and on those formats) on February 19, 2013. In 2015, the 2009 DVD and Blu-ray were reissued with a new slipcover in honor of the special's 50th anniversary (despite the anniversary in question actually falling in 2016). Warner released a new DVD and Blu-ray of the special on October 23, 2018, to tie in with the release of the CGI movie version. Labeled "the Ultimate Edition", this new release again included Halloween is Grinch Night! and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (now also in remastered video quality), this time on the same discs as the original special. All the bonus features from the 2009 DVD and Blu-ray releases were also included. Outside of its own DVD releases and the two Dr. Seuss box sets, Warner Home Video also featured the special alongside many of their acquired Christmas specials on the Classic Christmas Favorites box set in 2008 and the Santa's Magical Stories box set in 2011. Unlike the special's individual releases, the How the Grinch Stole Christmas! DVD on these sets had the special accompanied by two Rankin/Bass Christmas specials, Pinocchio's Christmas and The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold. TheDrSeussVideoFestivalVHS.jpg| Dr Seuss Video Festival CED.jpg| Grinch VHS Early1980s.jpg| Grinch Laserdisc 1984.jpg| Grinch VHS 1986.jpg| Grinch VHS 1990s.jpg| GrinchLaserdisc.jpg| Grinch DVD 1996.jpg| Grinch VHS 1999.jpg| Grinch DVD 2000.jpg| Grinch DVD 2006.jpg| Grinch DVD 2009.jpg| Classicchristmasfavorites.jpg| Grinch Bluray.jpg| SantasMagicalStories.jpg| DrSeussHolidaysOnTheLooseDVD.jpg| Grinch Ultimate Edition DVD.jpg| Grinch Ultimate Edition Blu-ray.jpg| Notes *Boris Karloff was picked to voice the Grinch after Chuck Jones heard a recording of him reading 's stories (which Jones was a fan of). *Some of the Whos' animation was recycled for the animated Horton Hears a Who! special. References in other media *Footage from this special is used in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York where Kevin McCallister watches it on TV. *The special was referenced around Christmas a few times in the comic strip : **In the strip published on December 15, 1991, Paige sees Roger tuning in to watch the special on TV, and she talks about how much she loves the special, only to find out that Roger has never actually watched it before and she just spoiled the story for him. **The Grinch made a background cameo in the strip published on December 20, 1996, as part of the storyline in which Paige dreams about visiting the Land of Animated TV Christmas Specials. In the next day's strip, after Paige wakes up and Andy reminds her that she never finished the essay that's been putting her through much stress, she sulkingly remarks, "You're a mean one, Mrs. Grinch." **In 1999, FoxTrot parodied the story in a two-week storyline that ran from December 13-25, in which Jason writes a "new" Christmas TV special titled The Mrs. Grinch Who Was Too Cheap For Christmas. In it, Andy is portrayed as "Mrs. Grinch", a cheapskate who won't buy expensive presents for the "Kids down in Kidville" (portrayed by Jason, Paige, and Peter). **In the strip published on December 15, 2004, Jason tries to explain to Marcus that the people in the special are called Whos, resulting in " "-style confusion. *Parody versions of the Grinch and Max appear at the beginning of "It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special". *In a episode parodying , the titular superhero is tricked into being forced to not do anything to stop the Lobe's crime spree, which is accompanied by a song titled "You're a Meanie, Nasty Lobe", an obvious parody of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". *The episode "Doug's Secret Christmas" begins with a fantasy sequence parodying How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, in which Roger Klotz sneaks into Doug's house, only to find that Doug himself has already stolen all the Christmas decorations. *In the episode "A Christmas Cruella", Cruella De Vil's younger self at one point makes the same evil stretched-out grin that the Grinch makes. *In the episode "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!", Charlie and Kenny see a Grinch parody on TV featuring Mr. Hankey. *The Merry Nickmas short "How the You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What!" was a parody of this special featuring Angelica Pickles from as "Grinchelica". *In episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", the montage of Homer Simpson stealing all the presents parodies the Grinch stealing everything in Whoville, complete with a parody of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". *In the episode "Operation: N.A.U.G.H.T.Y.", the Delightful Children and later Numbuh 3 are all mutated into creatures resembling the Grinch when they use Santa's Reindeer system to steal presents. *In episode "Merry Wishmas", a Wishmas-themed Grinch parody is seen on Timmy Turner's TV. *The RWBY Chibi episode "Nondescript Winter Spectacular" is a parody of this special, with villains Roman Torchwick and Neo deciding to forgo stealing presents and instead steal everyone's holiday spirit. *In the episode "Tanks for the Memories", Rainbow Dash made the same evil grin the Grinch makes when she finally had an idea to keep her pet turtle Tank from hibernating. Gallery The Whos find a tree.jpg|The Whos find a tree... grinch-whoville1.jpg|...to put in the center of Whoville. Grinch's heart is too small.jpg|The Grinch's heart is two sizes too small. Grinch rants to Max.jpg|"Tomorrow is Christmas; it's practically here!" how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-noise-noise-noise.jpg|"They'll blow their Floo-Floobers; they'll bang their Tah-Tinkers." grinch5.jpg|"They'll bang their Gah-Ginkers." Grinch-instrument1.jpg|The Grinch rants about the Whos' noise-making toys... The Whos' feast.jpg|...their extravagant Christmas feast... The Whos serving roast beast.png|...(which includes a delicious roast beast)... Song-WelcomeChristmas.jpg|...and their group singing. I must stop this whole thing.jpg|"I must stop this whole thing!" Max looks like Santa.jpg|Max gets covered in snow that makes him look like Santa... Grinch gets an idea.jpg|...which gives the Grinch an idea. Grinch making his Santa costume.jpg|The Grinch makes himself a Santa costume. GRINCHHD4.jpg|Max holding a mirror as the Grinch puts on his costume. Grinch_ties_antlers_on_Max's_head.jpg|The Grinch ties antlers on Max's head. grinch-sled1.jpg|The Grinch begins sledding down toward Whoville... Grinch and Max sledding downhill.jpg|...which proves to be a chaotic experience for him and Max. Grinch taking stockings.jpg|"These stockings are the first thing to go!" Grinch taking the star off the tree.jpg|The Grinch steals the presents, the decorations... Grinch taking the roast beast.jpg|...and the food. Grinch taking the tree.jpg|He then starts to stuff the tree up. Cindy catches the Grinch taking her tree.jpg|Cindy Lou Who catches the Grinch in the act. Grinch taking wreaths.jpg|The Grinch continues his theft spree... Grinch with wind-up toy.jpg|...including stealing some wind-up toys... Song-YoureAMeanOne.jpg|...and a toy train. Grinch prepares to dump his sleigh.jpg|The Grinch prepares to dump his sleigh. How-the-Grinch-Stole-Christmas-christmas-movies-17366489-1067-800.jpg|"They came without ribbons! They came without tags! They came without packages, boxes, or bags!" Grinch realizes he was wrong.jpg|The Grinch realizes "Christmas means a little bit more..." Grinch's heart grows three sizes.jpg|...and his heart grows three sizes. Grinch saves the sleigh.jpg|The Grinch saves the sleigh. grinch-horn1.jpg|The Grinch returns to Whoville... Grinch returns the presents.jpg|...and returns everything he stole. cindylou-max.jpg|Cindy Lou gives Max a slice of the roast beast. 10980978625_0ab318d01e_b.jpg External links * * * *[http://a.abc.com/specials/grinch1/ Archived ABC Feature Page for How the Grinch Stole Christmas!] Category:Specials Category:Originally aired on CBS Category:1966 releases Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Category:Films and specials based on books Category:Musicals Category:Warner Home Entertainment Category:Award winners